The Legend of the Dirt Mercs

by Rich Holzapfel

This is my account of how the Dirt Merc legend began
and then continued to grow. This account is true as nearly as an old guy that
has CRS (can't remember stuff) can recall. Names will not be used to protect
the innocent as well as the guilty!!

In the spring of 1997 I was awarded the bid to be the
MoW foreman of the Company Work Train of the Alaska Railroad. At this time I
had 23 years of experience on the railroad.

The work train crew consists of a train crew; Engineer,
Conductor, and Brakeman, they make all train movements under the direction of
the foreman.

The crew also consists of the MoW foreman, a heavy equipment
operator, and a track repairer/laborer or two depending on what job the train
is doing.

The work train does everything to support the MoW work
crews during the hectic and short work season. Everything from moving equipment
for the crews to hauling and dumping ballast, distributing ties and rail for
installation, air dumps of shoulder material, and anything else required to
keep the crews moving.

In years prior to this the train crew and MoW crew existed
as separate entities. They really each did just their side of the job and did
not work as a cohesive team.

When I and my crew got together in spring 1997 we decided
the job would mesh into one team, everyone helping with everything on the job
so that no one was left the hard jobs to do on their own. The job became a team
effort and everyone enjoyed it so much more than before. We were all focused
on a common goal. By now you're wondering what does this have to do with the
Dirt Merc legend, but it needed this background to help you understand how it
all came about.

We began the season saying we were the kinder, gentler
work train spreading joy and ballast throughout the railbelt. We were helping
everyone we could. We were working long hours and many days straight without
days off to keep everyone going. We had been working for probably at least a
month without a day off so
the boss decided we should take the weekend off. We were all happy with that
decision because we were all ready for a break. We had been getting called on
duty at 11am to follow the passenger train through the tie gang to get south
of them to dump as the only ballast available that year was at MP 388 pit and
the tie gang was working between Broad Pass and Denali Park. On our Friday we
expected to be called on duty at the regular time and looking forward to starting
a long needed weekend. Instead another supervisor decided we needed to be called
on duty at 5:30pm which meant we would have to work all night and then get a
short weekend. Of course we all complained, but that made no difference.

We went to work at 5:30 pm. Since we had a very heavy
load of ballast and some extra cars of supplies, we ended up having to double
Honolulu hill (meaning we didn't have enough power to pull everything over the
hill at once so we had to leave some of the train at the bottom of the hill
take the first cut to Hurricane and put it on the siding then go back and get
the rest pull it all up to Hurricane and put it back together). Needless to
say we ran out of life right there at Hurricane (i.e. train crew went dead on
hours.) So from there we drove to our homes for the weekend, getting there around
9am Saturday morning. Needless to say it was a short weekend. When we returned
to work Monday morning at 7am the dispatcher, who was a good friend of ours,
asked, "Are you still the kinder, gentler work train?" My conductor
emphatically said, "NO! We're now Dirt Mercenaries and we'll be coming
to your town real soon!"

From that time on the legend grew. We continued to help
everyone that we could, but that long Friday night made us an even tighter team,
us against them mentality. We took pride in getting the job done even if obstacles
were thrown in our way. We decided we would have to help ourselves to get the
job done because no one else was going to.

About a month later we were being sent north from Anchorage
with 33 cars of ballast that had been delivered to the Powder Spur at Eklutna.
We knew we couldn't get up and over Honolulu hill with just two locomotives.
At that time I believe we had two 2500 hp locomotives. We believed, at least
our engineer did, that he could get us over the hill with one more loco added.
So I called the chief dispatcher to see if there was an extra locomotive we
could use just to get up the hill and then set it on a siding so a freight could
pick it up. Unfortunately, it was one of those days when the whole GOB (General
Office Building) was having meetings so no one could give us an answer on the
power situation. We were going through Anchorage to fuel and service our two
locos so when we got to the roundhouse to fuel and sand up we saw the 3020 just
sitting there on track 7. We asked the roundhouse foreman if he had any extra
power we could use and he said he didn't think so. I asked what about the 3020.
He said it had been serviced and was ready to go. Again, I tried the chief dispatcher
to see if we could use the 3020. I was told the chief was in meetings and no
one else new anything about the power situation. So being good Dirt Mercs we
all looked at each other and said it doesn't look like the 3020 is doing anything
so we cut our 2500's apart and put the 3020 in the middle and we left Anchorage
with all 3 locomotives. Two days later the chief called and asked what locomotives
did we have in our consist. We told them we had the 3020. However, by that time
we didn't need it anymore because we had already made it up Honolulu hill in
one try which saved us one whole day in getting the ballast placed behind the
tie gang. Suffice to say that after that little episode the Dirt Merc legend
really caught on. Any time there was a lost freight car that the yard office
couldn't find we were the first crew to be called and asked, "Do you have
car number ???? in your train?" Of course we never did. Later, when we
were accused of stealing the 3020 locomotive I said how could we have stolen
it since it never left railroad property!!

There have been many Dirt Mercs over the years. You had
to have a special attitude to become a Dirt Merc. There were some crew members
that never made Dirt Merc status, but once you became a Dirt Merc it's for life.
You can never stop being a Dirt Merc.